I Married The Wrong Brother のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 41 - チャプター 50

After Natalie's POV The kisses had ended, but my body had not gotten the message. Saturday morning, I packed Noah's bag and kept my voice light. Extra socks. The stuffed animal he would pretend he did not need until he did. A spare shirt, because he always found a way to ruin the first one before lunch. He hugged me hard at the door, the way he always did when he could tell, without being told, that I needed it more than he did that morning. Then he left. The house changed the moment it closed. I had wanted the quiet. I had told myself a weekend without having to be anyone's mother would give me room to think. Instead, the rooms felt too large. The silence had edges I hadn't noticed before, sharp in places I usually filled without thinking — the hallway where Noah's socked feet usually thundered past, the kitchen table set for one instead of two. I made breakfast I did not eat. I folded laundry that did not need folding. I stood at the kitchen sink longer than I needed to, st

Never YoursMarcus's POVDaniel was standing across the street like he'd been there long enough to become part of the night.That was what bothered me first. Not his expression, not the way his eyes moved from Natalie to me — the fact that his SUV was parked where he could see the house clearly, engine off, windows dark. He hadn't just arrived. He'd been waiting.The porch light threw a thin yellow line across the steps. Beyond it, the street held the particular quiet of a residential block after a certain hour—a dog two houses down, a television muted behind a curtain, nothing else. Daniel stood in that quiet like it belonged to him, like the night had been arranged for his convenience.Natalie's fingers loosened a bit from mine. I felt the warmth leave first, then the pressure, then the simple fact of her hand, which I'd been holding since we left the car as though it were the most important thing in the world. Daniel crossed the street without hurrying, stopped at the bottom of the

Choosing UsNatalie's POVI woke slowly, the way you do when you don't want to open your eyes because some part of you is afraid the thing you're enjoying will disappear the moment you do.Warmth surrounded me. An arm was draped loosely across my waist, heavy enough to remind me I wasn't alone, gentle enough that I could move if I wanted to. I stayed still a few seconds longer, listening to the quiet rhythm of breathing behind me, until I felt fingers brush a strand of hair from my cheek.My lips curved before I even opened my eyes.“You're awake,” Marcus said, his voice low, rough with sleep.I turned my head. He was already watching me, hair a mess, his face softer than the one I knew from the office, something almost boyish in the way he looked at me that made me want to laugh.“How long have you been staring?”“Long enough.”“That's creepy.”“Probably.”I laughed softly. His fingers moved through my hair again, slower this time, careful of the side of my face that still ached.“Goo

The Win I EarnedNatalie's POVMy phone buzzed at 6:41 on Monday morning, and I was smiling before I had read it.Marcus: Good morning, Sunshine. Noah made me promise to inspect Steve tonight. Tell him I'm bringing my most serious face.I read it twice, lying in the gray light with the blanket up to my chin. Two mornings ago I would not have believed I could wake up like this, without a knot in my stomach, without rehearsing the day before I had even opened my eyes.Natalie: He'll want that in writing. Steve takes inspections very seriously.Marcus: Then I'll bring a clipboard.I laughed out loud in an empty room. Then I got up and looked in the bathroom mirror, and the smile went a little quieter.The bruise had turned the color of old tea, yellow at the edges, a shadow along my cheekbone that no one who knew me would miss. I touched it with two fingers. It didn't hurt much anymore. That was almost worse. Something that stops hurting starts to feel like something you're allowed to for

In the OpenMarcus's POVMy mother called at 11:40 the night of the party, and she didn't say hello."He isn't calm."I was standing in my kitchen with a glass of water I hadn't touched. "Mother, it's late.""Your brother has been calm exactly twice in his life." Her voice was low and tight. "Once was the week before he stood up in front of the board with her work. The other was the morning before he married." A pause. "In both cases he was planning something.""I know.""Do you?" She let the question sit. "Because I raised him, Marcus, and I'm telling you I don't recognize what I saw today. That wasn't a man who has learned patience. That was a man who is waiting for something.""I'll handle it.""That's what worries me," my mother said, and hung up.I stood there a long time after the line went dead.---By seven the next morning I was at my desk with three separate ideas, all of them good, all of them quiet.I laid them out for Adrian when he came in. He sat across from me with his